


Valentine's Day

by Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Chaos, Comedy, F/M, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, totally out of season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2018-12-22 06:31:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11961681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch/pseuds/Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch
Summary: Nico's first Valentine's day is approaching and he hasn't got a clue what to get Will. He needs to buy himself time to think of the perfect gift, but when he hires the Hermes cabin to distract Will things start going a bit wrong.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Storycubes Thursday: heart, person looking at/counting money, person with a hurt thumb
> 
> (Highly out of season but never mind!)

"So Valentines Day is coming up."

"Really?" Nico asked, looking around at the heart decorations and flowers that had sprung up overnight like unwelcome nuclear powered mushrooms. "I hadn't noticed."

Piper gave him a look and took a bite of toast. She's ambushed him at breakfast, which was already Nico's least favourite time of day. This conversation was pushing him quickly from not-a-morning-person to potential-killer. 

"What are you doing for Will?" Piper asked either oblivious or used to the aura of gloom and doom and get-away-from-me Nico was trying his best to project.

He gave a noncommittal shrug when Piper raised her eyebrows, and wondered if slowly sidestepping away would be too obvious.

"Please tell me you're doing something? I think Will is secretly pretty romantic you know."

"Not secretly," Nico said.

"At least a card?"

"Piper, I have grown to tolerate you and the others but you need to let this go or I will set a zombie on you. Will doesn't care what I do for him. Which, for the record, is going to be nothing."

Piper gave him a disappointed look, but Nico was 100% done with the conversation. He glanced around the dining pavilion and saw Cecil sloping up, looking almost as fed up as Nico felt.

"Oh look there's Cecil. I think he needs me to help him with something, or whatever. You can pretend that was a valid excuse to leave this conversation if you like."

Piper sighed but she waved him off.

"Go," she said. "You're a lost cause."

"I try," Nico said.

He grabbed a bagel and went back towards his cabin, blatantly ignoring Cecil on the way. His thoughts were jumbled and messy: he knew Piper had been joking about him being a lost cause but she'd accidentally hit a bit too close to home.

In truth he had been planning to do something for Will. Valentine’s day made him uncomfortable for a variety of reasons, not the least the sudden ever present nature of Cupid which was enough to send his heart racing. But Will deserved Nico to make an attempt at something good. After all, he put up with a lot: Nico wasn't exactly the easiest person in the world to deal with (though the same could often be said about Will who may have invented the word stubborn).

Besides he was pretty sure Will was going to get him something. He couldn't give Will nothing in return for whatever spectacular thing Will had planned for him.

That just left him with the problem of what to get. He thought he knew Will pretty well, but he was starting to think he might have been mistaken. Flowers were stupid, chocolates cliche. He'd tried to plan a picnic before, and he'd vowed never again. When he became truly desperate he'd even spent an afternoon eavesdropping on a group of Aphrodite kids as they sat out of sword fighting practice, hoping they'd inadvertently give him an idea. But everything they came up with was either cliched and made him feel psychically sick (slow dancing in the rain, taking cute couples photos), was not something he thought Will would enjoy (cooking a meal together) or was completely improbably (rescue Will from a tower, go on a quest to find a crown, realise one of them was long-lost royalty and get married).

Nico was starting to think he was a bad boyfriend.

Or maybe it was Will who was the bad boyfriend. He should like more stuff. Why couldn't he just drop hints about some new album he wanted? Then Nico could buy that put a pink bow on it and use the fact everyone expected him to do nothing to cover up the fact it would be a really unthoughtful, uncreative gift.

Really it was a good thing he didn't have more friends. Then it would be birthday after birthday he'd have to think about too. The last had been Reyna's and that had been the most stressful experience of his life. In the end he'd had to ask Jason who'd known her the longest and he'd suggested -

Nico stopped and glanced back at the pavilion. Cecil was slumped at a table, apparently trying to digest his food through some kind of advanced osmosis technique that involved him staring at a plate with a blank expression. Nico turned and headed back towards him.

"Hey Cecil," Nico said, plonking himself down opposite him.

Cecil murmured something that in his head was probably a colourfully worded invitation to go someplace else. Nico filled in the gaps mentally, and then promptly ignored it.

"You know Will pretty well," he said.

"I guess."

"What does he like?"

"You?" Cecil tried blearily.

"No, this isn't a trick question. I actually need to know, what does he like?"

"I dunno. Stuff. Ice Cream. Medical dramas. That band that does that song."

"Not all that helpful Cecil."

Cecil waved a pop tart in roughly Nico's direction.

"S' alright," he said. "You're welcome."

Nico thought that was probably as much as he was going to get out of Cecil at this time of morning.

He tried Lou Ellen but she wasn't particularly helpful either. She was working on what was either a modern impressionist style art piece or a ritualistic sacrificial magic spell, and so was not particularly interested in conversation.

"Just get him chocolates. Isn't that what everyone does?"

"I don't want to just do what everyone does," Nico admitted.

"Well then I can't help you. If you want it to come from the heart only you can know what’s going to work."

It was a valid point, but it annoyed him anyway. Will had the worst friends. He told Will that as he caught up with his boyfriend in a rare five minutes when neither of them were busy. Will just laughed.

"What have they done now?" he asked.

Nico floundered, wondering what excuse to make up to avoid the _I was asking them for help planning your surprise valentine's gift because I suck_ conversation. Luckily Will was quickly distracted by events on the archery range.

"Wait! DO NOT TOUCH THAT!  HARLEY!"

Will groaned.

“Gotta go. I’ll catch up with you later. HARLEY I SAID _DON’T TOUCH_!”

And with that Will was gone.

Will was pretty ephemeral these days. Not that Nico was complaining: Will was incredible and amazing and lovely. Nico wasn’t completely head over heels in love with him or anything. It was just he kind of really liked Will’s eyes and he wanted to make Will smile all the time and he felt like his breath got knocked out of him every time he looked at his boyfriend. And he did sometimes wake up and wonder how his life had gotten so good.

The thing was because Will was incredible and amazing and lovely it meant he was often busy: busy in the infirmary, busy sorting out his siblings (though the Apollo cabin had recently whittled down to just Kayla and Austin), busy, busy, busy. Nico didn’t exactly have masses of free time either because somehow he’d been drawn into duty after duty like helping Jason with his Pontiac (or whatever it was) thing, and suddenly he too was busy, busy, busy. It meant his and Will’s time together could usually be counted in minutes and usually ended abruptly.

Nico kind of missed Will.

He shouldn’t complain. He liked being part of camp. And besides it had just been a crazy couple of weeks. He was sure things would level out soon.

He hoped things would level out soon.

Jason found him brooding on the step outside his cabin and came to sit down next to him.

“You seem gloomier than usual.”

“I don’t want to have this conversation Jason.”

Jason seemed to physically fight back the urge to mother him but eventually he nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

“Nothing. I want to continue sitting on this step staring at that tree until I bore a whole through the fabric of the universe and I’m drawn into the void where I won’t have to think anymore.”

“I’ll miss you,” Jason commented. “Let me know what the void is like.”

“I’ll send you a postcard.”

Jason nodded and stood.

“If it makes a difference, Will’s going to love whatever you get him because it’ll be from you.”

Nico glared at him.

“I said –“

Jason held up his hands in surrender.

“I’m making Piper a constellation charm bracelet. Our first kiss was supposedly on the roof under the stars but it turned out that was a lie. I want to remind her I chose her and I’d choose her again and again, even without the fake memories.”

“Ugh, that’s disgustingly cute. I did not ask to be told that.”

“I’m going.”

Nico had first kissed Will in his cabin. It wasn’t exactly the most romantic setting, even if there were fairy lights at the time. They’d looked incredible reflecting in Will’s eyes. Maybe he could – but no that was _Jason’s_ idea. He was supposed to come up with something on his own.

Three days later and Valentines Day eve, and he was drawing a complete blank. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling while he spiralled further and further into panic. He had nothing. He was going to wake up tomorrow and have nothing to give Will. Maybe he could pretend he was sick, fake some debilitating illness.

No he couldn’t do that, that was a cowards way out.

Besides the trouble with dating the head medic was that Will could tell fake illness a mile off. He’d never pull it off.

But perhaps he could stall Will long enough to figure out what to do for him.

He got up and crept out the door. The Apollo cabin was dark and shut down and Nico was horrendously glad his boyfriend crashed out early. It meant he was extremely unlikely to stumble upon this transaction.

He knocked on the door of Cabin Eleven, and then knocked again louder when no one came to the door.

“I know someone’s awake! I can see the lights are on.” Nico hissed as loudly as he dared. He was very aware he was pushing curfew and besides he had other reasons not to want to be caught.

Eventually the door opened and Julia was blinking at him. She was wearing fuzzy pyjamas and an impatient expression.

“Yeah?”

“Get me Connor.”

She stared at him for a full five seconds and then sighed, turned around.

“OI CONNOR!”

Nico gave her an exasperated look but she just sloped off leaving an empty doorway. An inordinately long time later Connor came to the door and looked Nico up and down with a worryingly calculating expression,

“Yeah?”

“I need you to do something for me.”

“It’ll cost –“

“I know,” Nico said quickly. “I’m prepared to take on your cabin’s chores for a while.”

“That’s a handsome offer,” Connor said, very suspiciously. “What exactly do you want? I won’t kill anyone.”

“I’m not – that’s not?” Nico shook his head.

“ _No_. It’s about Will. I need you to keep him occupied tomorrow.”

Connor considered that.

“We’ve always have pretty good relations with the Apollo lot. I personally like Will. Not sure you taking on our chores is worth the potential falling out.”

“A month, I’ll do your chores for a whole month.”

Connor still seemed uncertain. He was wavering and Nico thought he might actually turn away and shut the door in his face.

“And you can have one favour! Anything.”

Connor raised an eyebrow.

“Any favour?”

“Any favour.”

“Whenever I want it?”

“Whenever.”

“Alright, done,” Connor said with a shrug. “How exactly am I supposed to keep him occupied?”

Nico sighed partly with relief and partly with regret.

“That’s up to you. Just don’t get him hurt. And don’t annoy him too much. But make sure he’s busy. Whatever it takes.”

Connor smirked.

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be able to think of something.”

“And don’t tell Will. Whatever you do, whatever happens you don’t tell him I set this up. On pain of death.”

Connor’s smirk widened.

“Scout’s honour,” he promised.

Nico wasn’t sure he liked Connor’s expression and he began to wonder as he walked back to his cabin whether he’d done the right thing, and what on earth he’d gotten Will into.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Nico bake and their friends plot.

Nico went down to breakfast in a gloomier mood than usual. He’d barely slept, worried about what Connor might be planning for Will, worried he was going to plan for Will. When dawn had forced its way through the curtains Nico cursed Apollo and his stupid son, and wondered if he could get away with not leaving his cabin. He’d come to the eventual conclusion that he probably couldn’t, and had kicked his blankets off and dressed as though preparing for an apocalypse.

Will was conspicuously absent which was a little confusing. He hoped something awful hadn’t happened, and wished he’d been more specific with Connor.

He sunk down at Will’s table and tried to blend into the shadows. He hadn’t felt out of place in a while, but now he found himself wanting to disappear. The rest of camp ignored him as people gravitated to their respective others. Nico felt a little hollow as he watched, sick with nerves about Will arriving, about seeing the light in his eyes dim as he realised Nico was a failure of a boyfriend.  

Across at Zeus’ table Jason handed Piper a small jewellery box. Nico watched the joy on her face and couldn’t help smiling. He felt someone sit down next to him and, as often happened around Will, felt himself relax slightly in spite of himself. He leant against Will with a sigh and let the lingering feelings of being the odd one out melt away.

“Morning.”

“You’re up late,” Nico said trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

“The door to our cabin got stuck somehow. Took ages to try and figure it out. I thought Kayla was going to climb out of the window.”

“I was hungry,” Kayla protested, coming over with a plate piled high with food.

A stuck door was a lot tamer than Nico had been expecting which was both a relief and a worry because he was sure Connor wasn’t going to be able to be content with little distractions for very long.

Breakfast went by without Will mentioning Valentine’s Day at all. In fact, if it wasn’t for the way everyone else was acting Nico could have sworn he’d gotten the day wrong. He’d expected Will to be more into it, but was also relieved the topic hadn’t been brought up yet. Now he just needed Connor to pull through, and while Will was distracted he could at least sort out a card.

“Will!”

Nico never thought he’d be grateful to Cecil for interrupting breakfast but today Cecil was like a messenger from the gods. He tried not to grin as Cecil spoke quietly to Will. Will didn't seem happy and Nico was scared for a moment that Will was going to show his stubborn side and refuse to do whatever Cecil was asking. The whispered conversation may have been quiet but their facial expressions were loud enough and Will was beginning to look incredulous. But Cecil was apparently good at being convincing and Will appeared to give in.

"I've got to go," Will said as he stood, looking resoundingly unimpressed. "I'll be back in a bit," he added kissing Nico's cheek, and Nico should have been used to that but it still had him blushing. He thought Cecil noticed because he smirked. Nico wriggled his fingers at him in a mystical way and Cecil shrank back slightly, eyes clouding with suspicion.

"Kayla -" Will added, but Kayla waved a hand airily interrupting him.

"Me and Austin have got the infirmary. You go see what Cecil needs."

Nico watched Will go in relief and excused himself from the table as soon as he thought Will wouldn't see him rush off. He didn't see the looks Kayla and Austin exchanged. If he had, he reflected later, he might have been able to stop some of the chaos.

*

Cecil had had better mornings. He thought Valentine’s Day was only supposed to be stressful if you were in a relationship, but barely an hour since he had woken and he was already concerned about his blood pressure. First Will had cornered him and demanded that he find some task that could conceivably take the entire day, but was light enough to not be much of a distraction and then assign it to Will so he could spend some time with Nico. It was a fair enough request, and Will was his best friend so he'd agreed. Then Connor had cornered him and asked him to find a task that was difficult and taxing that would keep Will distracted and away from Nico. Connor was his brother so he'd argued that that seemed unfair, and shouldn't Will and Nico have a nice first Valentine’s Day.

And then Connor told him that Nico had paid them to keep him and Will apart all day. And that's when Connor decided things were probably going to get messy.

He couldn't exactly say no to Connor and he couldn't' exactly say no to Will, so he'd figured he'd just tell Will he hadn't been able to come up with anything, wait a reasonable time and then tell Connor the same thing. He'd then escape somewhere distant and wait for the whole thing to blow up.

Will was following him down from the dining pavilion. He seemed distracted and slightly irritable, but for the moment he wasn't with Nico which he supposed at least made Connor happy.

"What's up?" Will asked eventually, pulling Cecil to a stop by the cabins. "Where are we going?"

"Oh I'm not sure. We're walking."

Will gave Cecil an odd look but obviously decided he wasn't in the mood to question it.

"Did you find a job for me?"

Will seemed distracted; he’d obviously rather be with Nico. Except for some reason Nico didn't want to be with him. Nico had seemed a bit distant at breakfast and at the time, Cecil had put it down to Nico being the opposite of a morning person, but maybe Nico was getting sick of Will and was waiting to break up. Maybe that was why he didn't want to spend Valentine's Day with his boyfriend.

If they broke up it would kill Will, Cecil knew. Will might be a pain and he knew their friendship was almost entirely them annoying each other, but he did not want to see Will hurt.

So maybe if Cecil could find them a job where they'd have to work together Nico would be reminded how much he loved Will and Cecil could save Valentine’s Day. And if he could somehow do that while simultaneously keeping Will away from Nico, that would keep Connor happy and ensure he didn't have to do any chores for an entire month.

"Yes."

"Yes?" Will prompted.

"Uh, baking!"

"Baking?"

"Yeah, so the Aphrodite cabin wanted some heart shaped cookies and other stuff for the fireworks tonight."

"I can probably manage that," Will said thoughtfully.

He grinned, bouncy and excited again and Cecil really hoped that somehow everything would turn out alright.

"You're the best Cecil!" Will called as he raced off.

"You're welcome," Cecil called after him, slightly nervously.

Couple baking. That was cute right? If baking with Will wasn't going to keep them together Cecil wasn't sure there was much more he could do.

*

"Are you sure the egg goes in now?" Nico asked.

Will studied the recipe book and then shrugged.

"Do you think it makes a difference?"

Nico shrugged too, and cracked the egg.

He'd been in his cabin getting angry at card and glue he'd stolen from Will's cabin and wondering if it was cheating to make your boyfriend a card using materials stolen from him. Then Will had burst in, barely leaving Nico enough time to shove the craft stuff under his bed. He'd told Nico how Cecil had volunteered him to bake cookies for the Aphrodite cabin and Will couldn't say no and did Nico want to join him.

And because Will was the master of looking like a lost pleading puppy Nico couldn't say no. He was pretty sure baking cookies couldn't take too long. He'd do that, and by the time they'd finished hopefully Connor or Cecil would swoop back in to excuse him, and then Nico could go back to trying to make Will's Valentine's Day special.

In the meantime, he had to wage war on cookie dough. He stared down at the egg and the crumbled remains of the shell.

"I think you're supposed to crack them a bit more gently."

"Shut up Solace."

"Make me," Will said which made Nico really really want to make him, especially since Will had somehow got flour on his nose and looked even more adorable than usual.

"You do it then," he said instead. "If you're so smart."

Will took the bowl and cracked an egg perfectly. He looked up at Nico from under his lashes with a devastating smirk.

"Well you've got to be good at something I suppose."

"Hey!" Will protested. "I'm good at a lot of things. Putting up with you for example."

Nico stuck out his tongue and threw a handful of flour at Will. Will shrieked and protested which made Nico laugh.

"You're such a child," Will complained. And then he threw a handful of flour at Nico. Nico yelped as it hit him in the face. He stared at Will for a moment. Will stared at him. They both reached for the flour.

*

"Hey Lou."

"Kayla! Just the person I wanted! I made you a gift."

Kayla took the proffered painting and assessed it critically.

"It's nice," she said. "It's not my birthday though so-"

"I'm sick of not getting presents just because I'm single," Lou Ellen explained. "So I've started Friendship Day. It's on 14th of February, every year."

"Aw but I didn't get you anything."

"It's cool, I'm playing the long game. I'm guessing you didn't come down here because your psychic abilities kicked in and you wanted to wish me a happy Friend Day though."

"No. Though I have an idea of what our first friendship day celebration could be."

"Shoot."

"We need to be good friends and save Will's Valentine’s Day. He's got all this stuff to do and we need to try and help so he can get through it quickly, and have the rest of the day free to spend with Nico."

"So we're like Valentine's day superheroes? I can dig that. Let me get my spellbook, and we can go."

"What for?" Kayla asked, following Lou Ellen into the cabin.

"It might come in handy. I never leave the cabin without it."

"That's a lie."

"Besides I think there was a spell for confetti in there somewhere."

"That could be cute," Kayla agreed. 

"Ooh maybe we could plan them another picnic!"

"This is going to be awesome!"

*

"So Nico definitely said he wanted to keep Will occupied?"

"Yep," Connor said. "And that'll still be what he said the next thousand times you ask."

Connor had recruited him on a delay-the-cookie-baking mission. Cecil wasn't entirely sure he was happy about it so was trying to engage in a subtle delay-the-delay-the-cookie-baking-mission. It was working, if only because Connor was starting to look a little uncertain about their task.

"I'm just saying," Cecil pressed, "they look kind of cute. Are we really going to break them up?"

"We're not breaking them up," Connor replied but definitely he looked unsure. "Nico just didn't want to spend time with - okay I see what you mean."

They both looked through the window again. Nico was making use of shadow travel to sneak attack Will with canned whip cream.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Cecil said again.

"Ours is not to reason why," Connor said, surprisingly eruditely.

"Look we'll just mess with a few things," Connor said decisively. "Slow the oven down, steal the icing sugar, that sort of thing. Nothing drastic. I mean it's not like they're not making it take about ten times longer on their own."

Cecil sighed but gave in. Couples baking did look like it was going reasonably well so Operation Keep-Will-And-Nico-Together was currently looking like a success.

"Fine," he said.

After all, they'd only be delaying the two having fun together. What could possibly go wrong?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lou Ellen and Kayla are worried, Cecil begins to regret everything and Nico still can't find a gift.

When Nico slipped on a puddle of milk and was only saved from breaking several bones by Will grabbing him he realised it might be time for a time out.

"Truce?"

Will smiled and held his hands up in surrender. He had whipped cream in his hair, a smudge of chocolate sauce on his nose. Like the rest of the kitchen he was also covered in a light dusting of flour: he looked ridiculous, like he was trying to do a ghost impersonation. Nico stood up on tiptoes to kiss him.

"It's going to take forever to clean all this up," Will said, ducking out from Nico’s clutches with a mischievous grin. "And we've still got to do those cookies. No time for kissing."

Nico shoved him lightly and Will fell back against the cooker, smirking like the awful brat he was.

"You're the worst and I hate you," Nico told him.  

Will's grin widened. Nico narrowed his eyes.

"Hey gu -what happened in here?"

Nico turned to Cecil half irritated that he'd interrupted and half relieved because this intervention was, after all, what he had brought for the small price of all the chores for a month.

"Cecil!" he said, verbally pouncing on him. Cecil's eyes went a little wide and he looked like he wanted to back right back out the door again, but Nico channelled his inner Medusa and pinned him to the spot.

 "Can you clean this up while I go get changed?"

"That hardly seems fair," Will pointed out, coming to the defence of his friend which was typical and unsurprising and incredibly frustrating.

"Well then you can keep him company," Nico suggested lightly.

"I only came to get some whipped cream," Cecil protested. He looked around the room. "Is there even any left?"

Nico tossed the almost empty can at him.

"You owe me," Nico said pointedly.

Cecil looked between him and Will, his expression reminiscent of a small fluffy creature caught in the headlights of life. But he sighed and nodded.

"Sure," he said, very gloomily.

"You said you were going to help with the cookies," Will said, looking at Nico. He was disappointed and trying to hide it, but Nico could tell by the way he had slumped slightly.

"I'll be right back," Nico promised.

"And you should probably clean up too," he added, smudging the sauce on Will's nose. Will did smile then, and conceded the point. Still he hesitated.

"Feels kind of mean to just leave Cecil-" he said.

"He owes me," Nico insisted in slightly more threatening tones. Cecil picked up on his cue.

"I owe him," he said flatly and slightly miserably. "I don't mind."

Cecil wasn't the best actor and Will wasn't looking entirely convinced.

“Those cookies won’t make themselves,” Nico pointed out and Will sighed.

“I suppose you’re right,” he said quietly.

“I’m always right,” Nico told him and left before Will could stop him. Will’s expression was muted and Nico felt a little bit guilty. Cooking together had been fun. He kind of didn’t want to leave. But he had to get something for Will. If Cecil and Connor and whoever else they'd dragged into it could just distract Will for a little while, he'd be able to make something amazing for Will. He just needed time.

*

"What is Cecil doing?" Lou Ellen asked.

"No use asking me, _I_ can't see," Kayla protested. "Why are we behind the trees anyway?"

"We're back here so Will and Nico don't see us and think we're spying on them."

"But we _are_ spying on them. And this feels creepier," Kayla commented.

Lou Ellen thought about that, but then shrugged.

"They won't see us," she said. "So it's probably fine."

"Then let me see!"

Lou Ellen did move, slightly and Kayla shouldered her way to the front.

"There's Nico!"

"Where?"

Kayla tried to move so Lou Ellen could see and got scratched in the face by an errant branch. 

"Ugh, couldn't you have just made us invisible with magic?" she asked.

Lou Ellen blinked.

"Oh," she said. "Well that wouldn't have been as much fun."

Kayla gave her a very sceptical look.

"Anyway, never mind that,” Lou Ellen said quickly.  “What's Nico doing?"

"He's -

\- he's alone."

Kayla took a step back. Lou Ellen pulled at her arm questioningly but Kayla just shook her head.

Nico had looked so sad. When she'd suggested to Lou Ellen that they save Will's Valentine's Day she'd really just meant help him out with the chores, and organise something nice for him and Nico since she was pretty sure Will hadn't had time to think in the last week or two. They'd been hiding behind the trees trying to figure out whether or not Will was happy baking with Nico, in which case problem solved, or whether they should take over and set Will free.

But now it looked like Will and Nico really did need help. She couldn't imagine what had made Nico so sad, but she was sure they'd have to fix it.

"Kayla!” Lou Ellen said insistently, pulling at her arm to get her attention. “What do we do?"

"I need to go talk to Will," she said. "Maybe you could check on Nico."

"Pretty sure Nico's more likely to open up to you," Lou Ellen said softly. "Maybe you should go after him?"

Kayla must have hesitated a moment too long because Lou Ellen squeezed her arm.

"I'll look after your brother. I promise."

Kayla sighed but nodded.

Nico had had a head-start and she lost track of him until a dusty handprint on the doorway to her cabin betrayed him. Slightly confused as to why Nico hadn't run back to his own cabin, she went inside. She swore Nico jumped as she entered.

"What are you doing in here?" he snapped defensively.

"I live here? It's my cabin? What are you doing in here?"

Nico scowled and shrugged jerkily.

"I came to get my stuff," he said, grabbing an abandoned black hoody by an arm.

Kayla blanched. Whatever they'd been fighting about couldn't have been that serious, surely?

"Nico-" Kayla tried but he clammed up immediately, impatient and irritable.

"I've got to go," he said with a scowl and fled.

Kayla was left staring at an empty cabin. So much for Nico being more likely to open up to her. She just hoped Lou Ellen was having better luck with Will.

*

Cecil was trying to figure out how to simultaneously fulfil his obligations to both Will and Nico while simultaneously bringing the two back together. Will was all quiet and distracted as he washed his face at the sink.

“You really don’t have to help,” he said as Cecil got a cloth. “I’ll tell Nico you did so you don’t have to owe him anymore.”

That made Cecil feel even worse.

“I’ll stay,” he promised.

Will nodded with a slight smile. Cecil shrugged and set about wiping down the surfaces. He had a feeling he was making things worse: the flour was just forming a paste that stuck to everything with the tenacity of superglue.

"You know," he said, "I am starting to regret suggesting baking to you."

Will’s smile returned and he looked like he was about to answer, but was distracted when Lou Ellen burst into the kitchen and then stopped dead.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Nico and I had a fight," Will said.

"This is a lot tidier than it was," Cecil said darkly. He'd temporarily given up on the counter tops and was trying sweeping, not all that successfully since the broom just agitated the flour and sent it spiralling up into the air.

Lou Ellen scowled at him. Cecil stared back at her confused.

"Are you alright Will? she asked, slightly pointedly Cecil thought.

"It's just a bit of flour," Will said. His eyes were far away like he was thinking of something else. Lou Ellen looked like she wanted to hug him but stopped herself at the last minute.

"Maybe you should change," she suggested gently. "I'll help Cecil clean this place up."

"That doesn't seem very fair," Will said.

"Cecil and I don't mind," Lou Ellen said, shooting daggers at Cecil with her eyes. "Not like we've got anything else to do today."

"Speak for yourself," Cecil muttered but he sighed. "Go on Will. It's fine."

If Will was changing then at least he'd be away from Nico which presumably make Nico and Connor happy. It would also give him time to figure out how he was next going to accidentally throw Will and Nico together to sort out their issues.

Will wavered but eventually shrugged.

"You two are the best. I owe you," he said and finally left. He was barely out the door before Lou Ellen rounded on him with fire in her eyes.

"What the HADES CECIL?"

"What have I done?" Cecil demanded.

"Will's supposed to be your friend!"

"He is my -"

"Well you've got a funny way of showing it!" Lou Ellen fumed. "You've been dragging him away from Nico all day. Are you trying to split them up?"

Cecil groaned and vowed that once this day was over he'd never help Connor or Nico or Will ever again. It was more trouble than it's worth.

"I'm not trying to split them up!" he protested. "Why would I want that?"

Lou Ellen did not look appeased.

"I'm going to help you clear this mess up," she said. "Then you have to stay away from them."

Cecil couldn't explain what was going on without breaking explicit promises to everyone involved to not tell, so he kept his mouth shut and nodded with his fingers crossed firmly behind his back. Lou Ellen looked suspicious but she seemed to let it go for the moment.

"Good," she said. "Now hand me that mop. I bet there's a spell in here I can use to make this go faster."

*

Nico sat on his floor and tried to resist the temptation to stab something with the scissors. It turned out arts and crafts really weren't his forte. Plus he hadn't had time grab all he'd wanted for Will's card. He also had a feeling he'd upset Kayla somehow, she'd looked all pale and drawn as he'd left, and he guessed he'd been too harsh in his surprise at her coming into the cabin. He'd have to make it up to her later. Just something else to add to his list.

Not only was he card going terribly but he still wasn't sure what grand gesture he should do for Will. Every time he tried to think about what Will would like all he could come up with was blank space in his head. Maybe actually writing a physical list of all the things they'd done together and all the things he liked about Will would help.

_I like…_

_I like…_

It shouldn't be so hard. Normally he could think of a thousand and one things he liked about his boyfriend but now when he really, really needed to remember his mind was refusing to cooperate.

There was a soft knock at the door and Nico was tempted to yell at whoever it was to go away because he was busy, but he shoved everything away out of sight and grudgingly invited them in.

"Hey Neeks. I thought you were going to get changed?"

Belatedly Nico realised he was still covered in flour.

"Oh yeah I remembered I need to do this thing for Kayla."

Will frowned.

"Kayla?"

She'd been the first person to pop into Nico's head and now he was regretting it because he really couldn't think of anything Kayla might want him to do but he nodded and hoped Will wouldn't get too curious.

Will had been leaning against the doorframe but he finally came over and sat down next to Nico.

"Kind of feels like your avoiding me," he said. He obviously had showered: his hair was still damp and smelt fruity. Pineapples maybe.

"I'm not avoiding you," Nico said even though he kind of was.

"Promise? Because if your mad at me-"

"I'm not mad!" Nico said more aggressively than he'd meant to in his need to get Will to understand that they were okay. Will drew back slightly raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not mad," Nico said again trying to modulate his voice to hide his rising panic. I love you, he wanted to scream, I love you and I just want to get you the best Valentine's gift ever but I can't because I'm not good enough.

He kept quiet though. He'd never managed to vocalise exactly how much Will meant to him, had always hoped Will knew.

"I don't care about Valentine's Day," Will said suddenly. Nico turned to look at him, surprised.

"If that's what's bothering you," Will clarified, "I don't care. We don't need to do anything."

Will was lying, Nico was sure of it, but if he was lying then he was lying to try and make Nico feel better which actually made Nico feel worse.

"Everyone expects us not to do anything," Nico said addressing the floor because it was easier than looking at Will.

"So?"

"It’s because of me," Nico pointed out. "Because I'm not romantic enough. Because I'm -"

"Woah," Will said interrupting him. He tucked a finger under Nico's chin and forced him to face him. "That's not -"

Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Okay maybe it is true. But who cares what other people think?"

 _I care_ , Nico thought but couldn’t bring himself to say it.

If people thought he wasn't romantic enough, that was one step away from thinking he wasn't good enough for Will. And the truth was he probably wasn't. He wasn't good enough. He'd had a week and he couldn't even think of a good Valentine's present.

"Nico," Will said gently. "Other people aren’t dating you. _I_ am. And _I_ don’t care. But if you want then we can be the cutest damn couple in this camp and prove every single one of them wrong.”

Nico couldn’t help it and began to laugh.

“That’s dumb,” he told his boyfriend. “Valentine’s Day isn’t a competition.”

Will kissed him and Nico felt himself melt.

“Maybe,” Will said. “But if it makes you feel better I’m prepared to turn it into one.”

Nico looked at him.

 _I like_ , he thought filling the first space on his list, _that my boyfriend is a complete dork_.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to get out of control.

Nico could safely say that Valentine's day was going horribly and it was probably almost entirely his fault. How he'd ever thought hiring Connor and the rest of the Hermes lot to help him would be a good idea he didn't know, but now he was facing disaster. Will, who had been so understanding for so long, was mad, Kayla upset, and Cecil looked like he was ready to stab the next person who came up to him and then Nico and then himself in that order.

At least Connor was happy enough. His chores were covered for a month and he got to reign mischief. It was probably his perfect Valentine's.

Nico should probably have realised Connor would be a little too good at his job. He wasn't sure how Connor had gotten Lou Ellen involved, but the cookie monster was a unique distraction technique.

Will stood by his side, arms tightly folded and his expression scarily blank. He'd been really understanding all day, but when Nico had inadvertently made Kayla cry, Will had apparently blamed him. That had apparently been his limit and now he was so closed off he was like a different person. Nico hated seeing the stony expression on his face, the rigidness of his posture. He felt close to tears himself.

It had all been going so well too. After Nico's slight meltdown in his cabin, Will seemed to take proving to the rest of the camp that Nico was a good boyfriend _thank you very much_ as a personal challenge. Nico had felt a little better at Will's sheer indignation that anyone would think Nico was anything less than perfect. So he'd gone to lunch feeling a little bit better, like he might actually be able to pull this Valentine's day off and find Will the perfect present that would make everyone at camp realise he wasn't a failure and he _did_ belong with Will.

Feeling more positive was his fatal mistake.

Actually, his fatal mistake may have been not calling Connor off while he still had the chance. 

He was just all round a walking disaster.

At first everything had seemed okay. He had met Will at lunch, slightly late because he'd been convincing a miserable looking Cecil that _yes_ he did still need Will distracting for just a little bit longer. His list was growing in his head - Will was kind, Will was warm, Will shared his sense of humour - and he just needed a couple of minutes to get it all down and then just a bit longer to work out how those things could combine into a gift.

At the dining pavilion they'd been ambushed by Lou Ellen, Austin and Kayla who had packed a hamper of food and sent them off to sit by the lake. Nico had enjoyed lunch, curled by Will's side he could temporarily forget all his worries and concerns, particularly the way everyone probably thought he was a terrible boyfriend. Will didn't make him feel like a bad boyfriend. Will actually made him feel like he was okay.

Following their lunch was something a bit like a bizarre game of musical chairs that took place on a roundabout. One of the Hermes cabin would drag Will or Nico away for something and then Lou Ellen, and/or Kayla would offer to do whatever random task the Hermes cabin had set them. Will was beginning to look utterly bemused by events, Nico thought he might be getting sea-sickness and was also slightly concerned Cecil was going to murder him.

Will eventually suggested a walk in the woods, presumably with the idea of getting away from the others but before Nico could accept, Connor came along with impeccable timing. He dumped Harley on them and asked them to watch him for a little while, while the rest of camp tried to figure out exactly what he'd been doing to the fireworks for the evenings bonfire. Nico was almost tempted to shove him back at Connor but he accepted. He left Will to entertain him while Nico went to jot down another ten or so things he liked about Will under the guise of finding something for Harley to play with.

Strangely looking after Harley was actually kind of fun. After handing Harley an old radio he'd picked up from the Hermes cabin (and serve them right for using Harley as a distraction) the nine-year-old became what counted as quiet for Harley, which allowed Will and Nico to have a quick game of mythomagic. Will wasn't as terrible as he'd first been when Nico had taught him the game, and he came close to beating Nico. Nico used Harley vanishing on them as an excuse to end the game early and by Will's smirk, his boyfriend knew it.

Neither of them felt like searching for Harley, and Will decided he was whoever was acting head of Hephaestus in Leo’s absence could take responsibility for him. Luckily for Nico's pride as a mythomagic player Cecil then appeared and asked Will if he could check out and/or terrify Julia who was insisting she was way too ill to do her chores. Nico told him to go and used the opportunity to sneak back into the Apollo cabin.

He was going through Will's ipod, searching for that one song that always reminded him of Will when he heard the door creak open. He tossed the ipod onto the bed automatically, wincing as his throw went off target and the ipod hit the wall with a slight thud. He cursed irritably and then looked up and saw a flighty looking Kayla in the doorframe. Nico was getting serious deja vu.

"Seriously?" he asked the universe at large. From the way Kayla flinched, Nico thought Kayla must have thought Nico was mad at her. It was odd seeing Will's sister so edgy when Kayla was usually anything but, and Nico realised he must have upset her even more than he'd realised.

Still she came in, watching him closely.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine," Nico replied shortly but then sighed at the expression on her face. It wasn't right to snap at Kayla just because he was annoyed at everything else.

"I'm sorry I snapped earlier," he said. "You surprised me that's all."

Kayla nodded and came to sit on Will's bed. Nico glanced at her, itching to leave but duty bound to listen.

"You know Austin and I are your friends too?" she asked. "Like I know Will's our brother but we do care about you."

Nico gave her an odd look and tried to cover his impatience. He was worried he didn't do it very well when Kayla frowned.

"I mean it," she said.

"I know Kayla," Nico answered.

"Do you want to talk about anything?" she asked. She was fiddling with the blankets on Will's bed, maybe uncomfortable with the heart to heart. Nico felt a swell of affection for her.

"I'm fine," he promised her, taking her hand and giving it a quick squeeze.

"Are you sure? Because you were kind of avoiding Will and he seemed sad but you seemed -" she waved her hands about apparently unsure of an adjective that could adequately sum up Nico's behaviour.

"-weird," she settled for eventually.

"I'm fine," Nico insisted. "We're fine. As far as I know everyone is fine." 

Kayla gave him a small, utterly unconvinced smile.

"Really," he insisted. "We're just taking a break."

He didn't see what was so wrong about taking a break from babysitting a nine-year-old with a penchant for death mazes and weaponry and gadgets of maximum destruction but Kayla looked like she'd been hit by a truck.

"Oh," she said. "Okay. But -"

She was interrupted by the door slamming open and Lou Ellen rushing in.

"Kayla!" she cried. "There's been a slight, uh, incident. Oh hi Nico."

Kayla looked at Lou Ellen in slight disbelief. Lou Ellen pulled her up and began dragging her out.

"What's going on?" Nico asked. "Can't it wait?" Kayla looked like she was about to cry and he still wasn't sure why but he thought he'd rather sort it out, than have her rush of to deal with whatever magical mayhem Lou Ellen had conjured up now.

"Not really," Lou Ellen admitted. "See I tried to speed up the cookies for you and -"

"Guess it can't then," Nico grumbled. He was well acquainted with the usual results of Lou Ellen's forays into the mystical arts.

As he stepped outside he saw Cecil with Will, though this time Austin had joined them. He looked unimpressed and was holding a wriggly Cecil firmly by the arm. Will had gone kind of pale so Nico really hoped Cecil hadn't broken and turned traitor. He didn't think he could explain yet what it had all been for, mainly because he didn't know himself. All he had was a (very long admittedly) list of all the things he liked about Will, all their memories together. It was useless.

Will met his eyes and his expression was strange. He was probably mad that Kayla, who was trailing him, now actually did have tears in her eyes, along with a death grip on her bow. He didn't have time to explain however since Will, Austin and Cecil turned and headed in the direction of the kitchens.

Really he shouldn't have been surprised to find the giant cookie monster raging a path of slow destruction.  Still, while he could admit that much of the Valentine's day mess was his fault, at least the demon dough was resoundingly Lou Ellen's fault.

"Why do all your magical efforts end up sentient?" Nico demanded.

Lou Ellen shrugged, flipping through her spell book with slightly less urgency than Nico would liked.

"Talent?" she suggested.

"Remind me to have a discussion with you about your definition of that word when I'm not drowning in cookie dough," Nico retorted.

"What a way to go though," said Cecil, who had been splattered by a glob of dough and was taste testing it. "If I have to die -"

"You do," Nico confirmed testily. Cecil gave him incredibly stroppy look which told Nico that he wasn't quite off Cecil's hit list yet and that his comment hadn't helped matters at all.

Will he noticed, was very quiet, watching the demonic gloop with an unreadable expression. He wasn't joining in the others slightly doomed attempts to coral the goo into not creeping and crawling its way down to the cabins where it would presumably wreak vanilla flavoured havoc. Nico cast him a worried look which Will ignored. The cold shoulder was painful, more painful than being physically attacked and Nico felt sick.

Suddenly Will turned and stalked off. Nico tried to call after him but the words got stuck in his throat. He couldn't go after Will because his legs suddenly felt like jelly. He felt liked everything was frozen, through a haze he saw Kayla leaping in front of him to strike at a tendril of evil infused dough before it could strike Nico around the face. He didn't - couldn't - react as she sliced through it spattering him with dough.

Then Will was back carrying a bucket of water which he chucked over the writhing mess of eldritch cookie. The water began dissolving the dough until nothing was left but a dirty puddle. He didn't look at any of them, just dropped the bucket to the floor and began to walk off.

This time Nico did find his voice, because somehow it seemed like if he let Will out of his sight now everything would end.

"Will!" he called.

His boyfriend turned back to him. He was still angry, his eyes were sparking but Nico realised Will was also near tears. Nico knew Will was close to Kayla but this seemed like a disproportionate reaction, especially since Kayla had since calmed down, and Nico wondered yet again if he were missing something. 

He suddenly didn't know what to say, trying to figure out why Will was upset and how to fix it. Will wasn't giving him any clues, just waiting with his gaze downcast like he didn't want to look Nico in the eyes. Nico was only faintly aware of the others watching with worried expressions, his entire world had tunnel visioned to focus on Will and fixing the broken look in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Nico asked.

Will finally looked up at him again. It was all wrong, his eyes furious and fierce but defensive. He was hugging himself like he was trying to keep himself together.

"If you wanted to break up you should have just said!" 

Nico stared at him in complete incomprehension. He couldn't understand why Will would ever think that he'd want to break up and was this his fault for giving Will the worst Valentine's ever, he'd tried so hard and even despite his efforts everything had still gone wrong.

"Will!" he called as his boyfriend - ex-boyfriend? - turned and walked away. Nico called out again, his voice hoarse and desperate but Will didn't look back.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico gets his heart broken and then fixed in short course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm incredibly sorry about the wait! I had my best friend coming back for a week and between seeing her and trying to sort out a present I'd been trying to do for a house warming I did not have time for writing. 
> 
> This one is to all of you since you have been so incredibly patient and I accidentally left you all on a bit of a cliffhanger! x

“But,” Nico said in a very small voice. “I don’t want to break up.”

He was staring at the spot where Will had vanished into the trees, looking so vulnerable Kayla felt like she might break him just by looking.

“You might want to get after him then,” Austin prompted gently.

Nico turned to look at Austin slowly, blank and uncomprehending and so miserable, then something in his expression finally clicked and he ran off following Will’s path into the woods.

“This is my fault,” Kayla said. She glanced at Lou Ellen. “We should have let them be. I just wanted them to have a good Valentine’s day and now –“ her voice broke.

Lou Ellen squeezed her shoulder.

“It’s not your fault,” she said gently. “It’s _his_.”

She turned on Cecil with fierce eyes.

“What were you THINKING?”

Cecil balked under her gaze momentarily, but then glared back.

“None of this is _my_ fault,” he protested. “Nico started it: _he_ was the one who wanted me to keep Will busy.”

That was met with collective silence as the group tried, and failed, to reason through Nico’s motivations.  

“Maybe we should –“ Kayla began though she wasn’t really sure what she was going to suggest and was glad when Austin interrupted.

“No,” he said. “I think this time we just let them be. They’ll work it out. They have to.”

“They both looked so sad,” Kayla said.

“Austin’s right,” Lou Ellen replied. “Our meddling partly caused this. We have to just trust they’ll be okay.”

“And if they’re not then we move onto Plan B,” Cecil said. “Valentine’s Rescue Part Two.”

“NO!” the others protested as one.

“They’ll work it out,” Austin said again.

Kayla wished she could feel as sure as Austin sounded. She just hoped Will was prepared to listen and that Nico had a hell of a good explanation for his really weird behaviour.

*

“Will!” Nico called.

He had no idea which way Will had gone and the trees seemed to be closing in on him. He felt sick and he was sure it wasn’t just from all the running.

“Will?” His voice cracked, and he stumbled to a stop to catch his breath. He scrubbed the tears from his eyes but it was a slightly pointless exercise because they just kept coming. Now he’d stopped running he wasn’t sure he could start again and, though he wanted more than anything in the world to find Will, he found himself sinking to the floor. The tears came faster then as he realised exactly how badly he’d screwed up.

“Will,” he tried but this time his voice was barely more than a whisper. He pulled his knees up to his chest and tried to ignore the way he felt all hollow and empty.

“What?”

Nico had had his arm in front of his eyes and he took it away slowly, barely trusting his senses because that sounded an awful lot like Wil’s voice but –

No he was there, he really was. His eyes were red like he’d been crying as well and he wasn’t his usual sunny, confident self but he _was_ there and that was enough for the moment. Now Will was here he could fix this, _somehow_ he could fix this.

He was on his feet and moving towards Will, but his boyfriend took a couple of hurried steps back, expression defensive, and Nico stopped still.

“Can I explain?” he asked.

“Go on then,” Will answered. His words were clipped but Nico thought that came from hurt rather than anger.

Will gave him a pointed look and Nico realised he wasn’t talking. He didn’t have any idea how to begin. It was only when Will gave an exasperated sigh and turned to leave that Nico was shocked into action. He reached out for Will’s shoulder, turning him round and ignoring the way Will jerked out from his grip he began talking.

“I don’t want to break up,” he said insistently and he didn’t miss the way Will’s eyes widened slightly. He took that as a good sign and carried on talking.

“I just wanted to be a good boyfriend,” Nico said miserably. “I wanted to prove I could do it. But I can’t. I ruined everything.”

“I don’t get –“ Will began.

“I wanted to give you an amazing gift. But I didn’t know what to get and I thought if I just had some time I could figure it out. So I kind of bribed Connor and Cecil and the whole of their cabin to distract you so I could – are you laughing?”

He was. He was trying to stifle the sound with a shaking hand, but he was laughing.

“I -?”

“ _I_ asked Cecil to find something for me to do so we could spend the day together. No wonder he was looking so stressed.”

“You -?”

Nico thought he had lost all ability for words.

“I just wanted to spend the day with you,” Will admitted. “So I thought if we had something to do, some kind of job it would be an excuse to hang out.”

He looked down at the floor.

“So you really don’t want to break up?” he asked, a little nervously.

Nico thought he was going to cry again, but he stepped forward. This time Will didn't flinch away so Nico took his boyfriends hands.

“Never,” he said.

Will’s mouth quirked at the corner and then he let out a breath and closed his eyes.

“You really scared me.”  

“I’m sorry.”

“I thought we were over and I didn’t know what I’d done. I didn’t know how I was going to cope.”

“I’m so so sorry,” Nico said again. He wondered if he said it enough it would ever make him feel less guilty. He somehow doubted it. He wiped Will’s tears away with his thumb and wished he had his boyfriend’s healing abilities and he could also wipe away all the pain and confusion he’d caused.

“I guess I ruined our first Valentine’s day?” Nico asked in a small voice.

Will opened his eyes and gave Nico a small smile.

“Nah,” he said. “There’s still the fireworks right? And besides it’ll be something to tell the grandkids. Our first Valentine’s day and your grandfather was inadvertently partially responsible for the creation of a giant demon cookie monster…”

Will was joking but his words hit Nico like a sledgehammer.

“Grandkids?” he asked shakily. “You really think we’ll be together that long?”

Will gave him an odd look.

“Longer,” Will said and it sounded like a promise.  “Unless you were lying about not wanting to break up?”

Nico shoved him away lightly in protest, but then changed his mind and pulled him back by his shirt and kissed him.

“Shut up Solace,” he said when they broke apart.

He thought Will’s laughter, fragile and shaky as it was, might just be the best sound in the world.

*

Will was right, there _was_ still the fireworks. But first they had a mess to clear up, both literal and figurative. They’d found the others cleaning up the forlorn remains of the demon dough. The relief in their eyes when they saw them holding hands was obvious, just as Kayla’s excitement would have been kind of hard to miss. He let her hug him while he apologised for being a moron and scaring her.

He gave up entirely on finding Will a gift and focused on spending time with his boyfriend which – who knew – was infinitely preferable to running around trying to avoid him all the while stressing about the perfect present. They finished off the cookies just in time for Piper to arrive to collect them, and they did it properly this time with no flour fights and absolutely zero input from Lou Ellen and her worrying book of spells.

At dinner he sat close, practically in Will’s lap, unwilling to let Will get too far away. After their break-up scare he wasn’t afraid to admit to suddenly becoming clingier than an octopus.

Besides Will didn’t seem to mind.

Will disappeared briefly after dinner which sent Nico into a panic and then he realised that this was what he had been doing to Will all day. He really was an idiot. He pulled out the list of things he loved about Will, by now crumpled and torn, and stared at it.

_He puts up with me._

Will returned with a box. Nico glared suspiciously at it.

“No presents,” he accused. “You said.”

“I don’t think I did,” Will said mildly, though his tone was belied by his slight grin.

“You said all you wanted was to spend time together.”

“That was true,” Will said with a shrug. “Is still true. But I really want to give you this so can you just shut up and let me?”  

Nico sighed but he owed Will not to turn the fact Will was an awesome boyfriend into an argument so he just caught his hand. They walked down to the beach together, ahead of everyone else. Nico sat down on the sand and watched as Will skipped stones out across the water.

It was hard to grow tired of watching Will, bright and beautiful against the dying sun but the box kept drawing his attention. He poked it subtly and when Will didn’t turn around, he picked it up.

“You can open it if you want,” Will said without looking back.

“I don’t care what’s inside,” Nico lied as he shook the box.

“Well you better hope it wasn’t breakable,” Will said with a slight smile, coming to sit opposite him.

Nico glanced at him and Will nodded like go ahead. Nico pulled on the red bow, letting it unravel and fall away. With shaking hands – the box was so light and what on earth could Will have gotten him? – he pulled off the lid.

Folded neatly inside the box was a black tshirt on top a necklace with three beads on it. He lifted the necklace first.

“Is this - ?”

“Cecil somehow managed to find some spare beads.” Will shrugged with a slightly rueful smile. “I only did the years I thought you were around for.”

Nico ran his fingers across the necklace in wonder. There was the bead from the first year he’d set foot in camp, the battle against Kronos and finally the bead from this summer the first time he’d made Camp Half Blood home. He felt his eyes grow hot again noticed Will was watching him closely when Will grabbed his hands and squeezed them.

“I’m sorry if it brings up bad memories. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea?”

Nico shook his head firmly but couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat. He reached in for the t-shirt and pulled it out. It was the traditional camp half blood shirt all the other campers wore, but with the colours inverted: a deep orange on black.

“Halloween-y,” he said.

“Suits you then, Death Boy,” Will said with a grin. “Couldn’t really see you in bright orange somehow.”

Then his smile faded.

“If you don’t like them-“ he began, but Nico shook his head again.

“I love them.”

“I know you said you’d stay and you promised but you’ve been kind of, I don’t know _distant_ recently and I wanted to remind you that you belong here.”

“Will,” Nico said softly.

He’d thought he’d been subtle about his creeping doubts and fears. He thought there was no way Will had picked up on, had tried to keep it secret so Will _wouldn’t_ pick up on it.

“You belong here,” Will told him again insistent and stubborn and so sincere. “You belong here with me.”

Nico ducked his head so Will wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes.

“Oh no!” Will said sounding very worried and shifted closer so their knees touched. “I didn’t mean to make you cry see now I‘m ruining Valentine’s Day!”

“I’m crying because I’m happy you idiot,” Nico told Will. “How dare you come up with such a thoughtful and awesome present? This was exactly what I was worried about!”

Will smiled and relaxed.

“I meant it when I said I didn’t want anything you know,” he said. “Though I don’t quite get what you were doing all those times you ran out on me if it wasn’t gift shopping.”

“I tried to make a card,” Nico admitted.

Will laughed.

“Well since you haven’t got it on you I guess I dodged a bullet. I’m not sure even I’d be able to pretend to appreciate your artistic efforts.”

“Rude. And there was this.” He pulled out the list once more and thrust it at Will rather defeatedly.

“That’s all I got, which is to say nothing.”

Will took the list with a slight frown and began to read. His expression cleared and then softened.

“You wrote all this out?” Will asked, turning the pages over. “There’s so much!”

“I was trying to figure out what you’d like. So I wrote down everything we’d done and all the reasons I liked you and I thought maybe it would trigger – “

“Nico this is –“

Will shook his head, seemingly at a loss.

“Wow,” he breathed.

“It’s just a stupid list,” Nico said, a little confused.

“It’s us,” Will said. “It’s all our memories. Neeks I love it. Maybe one day we’ll have to write it up properly. Like a proper scrapbook.”

“You are disgustingly cutesy,” Nico told him, even though he had to admit he kind of liked the idea.

“And yet you’re with me anyway,” Will pointed out. “Because apparently my –“ he scanned the list, “- _beautiful eyes_ are enough for you to look past my annoying qualities.”

“And there are so many of them,” Nico said. “Like if I had a balancing scale with your annoying qualities on one side –“

“Yeah yeah,” Will grumbled good naturedly. “I get it. It’s –“

 “Lucky you’re pretty.”

“-lucky I’m pretty.”

Nico would normally be content to leave it there but it _was_ Valentine’s Day.

“You’re incredible Will,” he whispered. “I’m lucky.”

“Well I’m lucky too,” Will said. “Sure you kind of created a situation where Lou Ellen felt the need to give cookie dough life but you cared so much about getting me something. I couldn’t ask for a better boyfriend. And maybe now people will finally get that.”

“I don’t care if they don’t,” Nico said with a shrug. And he really didn’t. Will believing in them was more than enough.

“The others will be coming down soon,” Nico said.

Will nodded. He stood and pulled Nico up too.  

“I think Cecil hates me now,” Nico said.

“I don’t think he’s too fond of me either,” Will agreed as they wandered further down the beach towards the sounds of over-excited demigods.

“We should probably make it up to him somehow,” Nico said.

“We could promise never to ask him for anything again.”

“That would probably do it,” Nico agreed.

As they walked along the beach to rejoin their friends Nico thought about the feeling in his chest, the way he felt about Will. He knew there was a name for it and the more he thought about it, the more right it felt. It almost slipped out, as he glanced at his boyfriend and saw Will watching him in turn. Will’s eyes were surprisingly dark in the twilight but the last orangey glow of the setting sun set his hair ablaze.

He didn’t say it though, just squeezed his hand. Somehow despite everything now didn't feel quite right. Besides Will knew, he thought and he’d had all the time in the world to say it.

Longer.

 


End file.
